During a three-minute ambush in the deadly Korengal Valley of Afghanistan in 2007, Iowa-bred Staff Sgt. Salvatore Giunta, now 25, stopped two terrorists from kidnapping his wounded platoon-mate. This afternoon, to honor his bravery in the face of a firefight, Obama presented him with the prestigious Medal of Honor, the world's highest honor for battlefield heroics, which makes him the first non-posthumous soldier to receive it for actions during the current war.

Advertisement - Continue Reading Below

The story: On a mission to "get a[n American] body," Taliban insurgents plotted a perfectly-executed ambush against the 1st Platoon, Battle Company, 173rd Airborne Brigade Combat Team America. Once Giunta realized they had taken good friend and platoon-mate, Sgt. Joshua Brennan, who was being carried away into a clearing, "Giunta charged forward alone and fired the 15 or 20 rounds remaining in his M4, killing one of the Taliban insurgents and wounding the other," to rescue him.

Most Popular

"They would have definitely, definitely taken him to a lot worse place," said Squad Leader Staff Sgt. Erik Gallardo. "There's no way we would have come out of that valley without Brennan," who was named Soldier of the Year on his first deployment, and died later that night in surgery.

The humble Giunta remains insistant that he's no different than any other lineman out there that day, nor any man in his platoon or soldier in general.

"Every single man next to me did exactly what he could, which was get down and return fire," Giunta said of the Soldiers' response. "There wasn't really much cover, so you've got to take the fight back to them. The more rounds you shoot at them, hopefully the less rounds they shoot at you. The less rounds they shoot at you, the less chances you have at getting hit. You've just got to play with what you've got. And that's all we had."

Maj. Dan Kearney put Giunta in the running for MOH, given only for acts of extreme bravery in the face of almost certain death, telling Army/Military News that if Giunta's actions weren't worthy of the medal, he doesn't know what is. Giunta is now one of 86 MOH recipients alive today.